Taliban Administration Urges Uzbekistan to Invest in Afghan Agriculture
As part of efforts by the Taliban administration to attract foreign investment, Mawlawi Ataullah Omari, acting minister of agriculture, irrigation and livestock, has called on Uzbek investors to put money into agricultural projects and related industries in Afghanistan.
According to ministry officials, Omari made the remarks in Tashkent at the meeting on “Landlocked Countries, Food Security and Sustainable Development Goals,” saying cooperation between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan should not be limited to trade in agricultural products.
He claimed that areas of cooperation could be expanded to include the production and processing of agricultural goods, packaging, processing industries, agricultural machinery and the creation of “value chains.” Omari also cited fertile land, climatic diversity and a young workforce as investment opportunities.
The Taliban administration’s acting agriculture minister, referring to the production of “159,000 metric tons of cotton” in 2024, said Afghanistan’s goal is not merely to produce raw materials and that by expanding processing and packaging centres, the value of products can be increased inside the country, jobs created for people, farmers’ incomes raised and exports expanded.
He said investment in modern irrigation systems, agricultural machinery, agricultural production, textiles, oil extraction and other agriculture-related industries are among the main areas of joint cooperation between the two countries, and described Afghanistan’s geographic position as “suitable” for connecting Central and South Asian markets.
Omari said at the end that the Taliban administration’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock is ready, within the framework of applicable laws and regulations, to facilitate cooperation and investment so that bilateral understandings can be turned into practical projects and lasting economic cooperation.
Geographically, Afghanistan lies between Central and South Asia, and Uzbekistan is one of the country’s northern neighbours, which in recent years has also spoken of expanding trade and economic cooperation with Afghanistan.
